Recovering a damaged/corrupted AVI file?

This is a discussion on Recovering a damaged/corrupted AVI file? within the Windows 7 Support, Windows Vista Support forums, part of the Tech Support Forum category. Not sure if this is the right seciton but it is a general issue so, ill go for it. Basically,

Not sure if this is the right seciton but it is a general issue so, ill go for it. Basically, i was using a "screen recording software" called debut video capture, to record me doing a series of tutorials and when on webcam, was showing screen to screen with the software as sort of like a "live" tutorial with my friend for something in photoshop, when all of a sudden, the computer crashed with a BSOD of logitech webcam controller driver crashing, i have since repaired that, but i now two of my tutorials (as this happened twice) and now corrupted .AVI files.

One is entitled "untitled 106.avi" as that is how debut video capture names the files, so basically it was recording, computer crashed, a file of 165mb and 35mb are both corrupt but i care more about the larger one as it was 6 minutes long, VLC player called it a "undf" file (undefined video?) and ive tried countless recovery tools only to have no luck.

I dont care for the audio i only really want the video.

So my question is, does anyone know how or anyway i can recover the video from this file with software or otherwise? ther is definately physical data as just recovering up to the point of crash would be nice but alas, ive not found a way so i come here to see if i have missed anything?

I think your best bet is to simply create the videos again. Even if you were able to save a certain percentage of the video, it would be quite a bit more trouble to then have to patch together the remnants with newly captured fresh video. If the tutorials were thirty or forty minutes, that might be different.

If you have tried most of the freeware recovery software OldGrayGary may be right - corrupted/damaged avi files even when recovered may not be stable. Mostly it is header information that is missiing/damaged and this is the info that is needed for the file to play properly - I have heard of people taking the header from a working avi and transposing it to the damaged file but this requires good knowledge of file structures and hex editing - basically what some recovery software does.
If it's only 6 minutes of video - do it again

Sorry! not 6 minutes why did i write that :S, the 165mb one is 26 minutes long and covered a LOT of material, such matieral i no longer have the trials for anymore sine just my luck, then ran out last night!

Damn...really? its odd because, i know the video is there from an analyses of the file, and even a picture, even i only got half of it would do for for 30mins effort, i really dont want the hassle of doing it again.

I'm not sure what the percentage recovery rate on these programs are, but so long as you make a backup of your original first, it can't hurt to try. The DIVXRepair program is the one I saw the most mentions of. The links that follow mention a few of the more popular tools.

I haven't tried these tools myself. I've used several file recovery programs over the years, and many of them work well - but none of those that I've used had the ability to repair a damaged video file. The tools in the links above do attempt that kind of repair.

To check and see what the problem may be download and install GSpot from the link in my sig - once installed open the offending file in GSpot - it will tell you in the LHS panel what is wrong with the file, RHS panel will tell you codec info etc and within the bottom LHS panel are a number of buttons which when clicked will allow your system to attempt rendering the file and give an error message if it can't.
This may help narrow down what the problem is and help with your search for an answer.

DivX Repair is the software I have heard most good reports of too (as in OldGrayGary's post above)

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